The Power Of Goodbye
by SweetObsession0
Summary: When Hermione finds out she's adopted and her birth parents, the Zabinis, want her to live with them, she refuses. But when the Grangers are killed by Death Eaters, she has nowhere to go but to her real family where she'll learn to be pureblood. HGDM
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Anything associated with Harry Potter does not belong to me.

So this is a test chapter…a very long test chapter. For my purposes, I'm totally ignoring the fact that Blaise is black. The 6th book made me mad and so pretend none of it happened for the purpose of this story. This takes place in the summer after 6th year and just pretend that nothing exciting happened in 6th year. If you want more, please REVIEW. I am a review WHORE. Do it and I will be eternally grateful.

Hermione trudged up the stairs dragging her large trunk behind her. She struggled near the middle of the staircase and swayed dangerously before regaining balance and continuing. She breathed a sigh of relief as she reached the door to her room. She and her parents had just gotten back from King's Cross. _Only one more year at Hogwarts until I'm gone._ She shook her head emptying thought from it. She didn't want to think about that now.

She dropped her trunk next to her closet and flung herself back on her queen sized bed located in the far corner of her room. Staring at her ceiling, she just reveled in the feeling of her soft mattress pressing against her body and the softness of her pillows under her head.

Her hair was still its usual, frizzy mess, but over sixth year she had started to gain a figure. _Finally,_ she thought to herself. _It sure took long enough._ Her body was slender, but her hips curved enough to show that she was female. Her breasts had also grown over the year, and she hadn't missed the appreciative looks she got from her schoolmates and a few random boys on the way to the car from the station.

The only people who seemed to not notice how she was growing up were her two best friends and pretty much all of the Slytherin house. _I will always just be another mudblood to them. _The rebellious part of her said that she didn't care. If they weren't willing to be open minded enough to look past her muggle upbringing, then she wanted nothing to do with them anyways. But another part of her was only saddened by the name calling. She wanted them to take the time to see her as a person, and a smart witch rather than someone who was beneath them.

However, she was almost glad that Harry and Ron had remained oblivious to her changing body. _Well . . .perhaps not _oblivious But at least she could count on the fact that neither one of them would try to romance her in fear of hurting their friendship. And that was perfectly fine with Hermione. Sure, Harry was very handsome, and had sure grown a lot since their first year, _In more ways than one._ But she saw him as more of a brother. He was protective of her but she was grateful because he always left her to make her own decisions. He trusted her enough to know she could handle herself, but was there to help when she needed it.

Ron, on the other hand, took the over-protective-brother thing to a whole new level. He had a very short temper, which ran on Hermione's last nerve a lot of the time, but she knew it was just him showing how he cared. If either of her best friends was going to try to see Hermione in a new light, as more than a best friend, it would be Ron. She had not failed to notice his staring at the Yule Ball and sometimes after that when she was studying in the common room. But she was confident in the fact that he wouldn't try anything. _At least, he better not._

She was startled out of her thinking by her mother calling up the stairs. "Hermione, can you come here, please?" Hermione thought she heard a touch of something in her mother's voice, but couldn't place it. She shrugged and got off her bed stopping in the center of her room to kick off her shoes before she padded downstairs in her socks.

She stopped at the entrance to the kitchen and took in the sight before her as years of being Harry's best friend had taught her. She checked the exits and took in the details. Sure, it was just her parents, but you could never know what danger could come, especially with Voldemort back. There had been more and more unexplained attacks on the people of London lately. Of course, they weren't unexplained for the wizarding world. It was the Death Eaters having more fun with muggles. They had been getting braver and more daring in their attacks. Perhaps knowing their master was getting stronger was giving them more confidence.

Her mother and father were sitting at the small, circular table in the middle of their kitchen. A third chair was pulled out from the table closest to her. She didn't overlook the look of suppressed sadness on her mother's face and her father's comforting hand resting on hers. She also took in the opened letter resting between them in front of their overlapped hands. She sat in the chair cautiously as if it would bite her in the butt if she sat down too hard or fast.

"You needed me?" She asked innocently, deciding to play the I-know-nothing card which she had perfected to fool teachers. Not that she used it often . . .

Her gaze flickered between her parent's faces trying to decipher who it would be to talk. From the look on her mother's face, the news wasn't good.

"Hermione, darling," her mother started, voice wavering, but stopped trying to talk as loud sobs came out of her opened mouth. Hermione looked at her mother in alarm. She dropped the innocence card.

"You guys, what is it? What's wrong? Did someone die? Where's Uncle Mike? Is he okay?" she rattled off questions growing more and more unwound as the possibilities set in. _It was Voldemort, or the Death Eaters, it had to be, what else could it be? Nothing. That's what. It was Voldemort. Someone's dead. Oh God, someone's dead._

Her father's head snapped up from looking at his wife and immediately tried to calm down Hermione who was finding it hard to breathe. "No, no, nonono." He said quickly trying to calm her down. "It's nothing like that, really. Uh, you see . . ." he faltered. Deep breath. "You are adopted, 'Mione. Your mother and I adopted you."

Her mother stopped sniffing long enough to look up at her daughter, concern and guilt written on her face. Hermione just sat there staring at her dad. She searched her mother's eyes for confirmation, and found it lying deep in the centers. Inhale. Exhale.

"Well that's not that terrible, is it? A lot of people are adopted. It doesn't mean I love you guys any less. Is that what this whole thing is about? That's why you're so upset?" Hermione said, relief showing on her face. _And to think I thought someone was dead. _As her mother pondered what she was going to say, Hermione took the time to look at her parents. _Really_ look at them.

Her mother's hair was a straight, dark blonde which fell softly to her collarbones, while her father's hair was a light brown, much lighter than Hermione's own brunette. And over the year, Hermione's own chocolate brown eyes had lightened distinctly into hazel flecked with green. Both her parents had blue eyes, her father's just being a darker blue than her mother's.

_How could I have not seen it?_ She asked herself. _I look nothing like them._ _And to think I'm supposed to be the brilliant girl who knows everything._

Her mother seemed to have recovered from her crying and now gestured to the letter lying in front of them looking so innocent. "Your birth parents wish you to go live with them." She said her eyes flicking up to meet with Hermione's.

A few emotions floated around her head and she struggled to grasp one at a time. Excitement. Which ebbed into mere curiosity. Which diminished into anger. "They just give me up for adoption and then expect me to come running back sixteen years later?" she asked, really talking to herself. "Yeah, right. There's no way in hell."

Her mother looked taken aback and relieved at the same time. "Well, in all fairness, Hermione, they had no choice from what we were told. You see, you were from a wizarding family. That man," she gestured wildly in the air as if trying to find the answer from her flailing hands, "you know," she continued impatiently, "the Lord man. The evil one."

"Voldemort?" Hermione questioned, still stuck back on the fact that her birth parents are wizards. _It would explain more, though._

"Yes!" her mother exclaimed, and looked mildly pleased that _someone_ knew what she was talking about. "Yes," she continued, "Voldemort was going to kill you. They had no choice but to give you up."

Hermione took time to process this in her already reeling head. Only one word seemed to pull itself out of the jumble of thoughts that was her mind. "Why?"

Her mother looked thoughtful. "We don't know. That's all we were told about why they gave you up. I would understand if you wanted to ask them," she said hurriedly as if trying to get the words out before she stopped herself.

"No," Hermione stated resolutely. "I have no curiosity." _Lie._ "I'm happy with you guys and I'm not just going to up and leave you because they suddenly want to meet me."

Identical looks of relief washed over her parent's faces and tears leaked out of her mother's eyes once again. They stood up and embraced Hermione between them tightly. "We love you so much, honey. You have to know that. No matter what happens, you'll always be our daughter." Her mother said and hugged her tighter.

Air was becoming an issue for Hermione who was trapped snugly between her mother's large breasts (another point that should have tipped her off to the whole being adopted thing, since she certainly hadn't inherited them) and her father's chest while a few stray whiskers on his chin tickled her cheek, but she didn't complain. She just savored the feeling of being loved.

Finally her parents pulled back and she inhaled a large amount of fresh air. "How about we go out to dinner," her mom said looking at her dad. "To celebrate Hermione's homecoming and home-staying," she joked. Hermione and her father agreed and they all spent the evening at a fancy restaurant, ordering whatever appealed to them at the time and laughing about random things like her parent's patients at the dentist's office.

When they arrived home, Hermione headed up to her room, the night's events still swirling in her head, and pulled on a pair of tiny, pink shorts she slept in (courtesy of her mother) and a plain white tank top. She crawled under the covers of her bed and flipped the switch of the light next to her bed, allowing her enough light to read the large book she clutched in her hands.

Around half an hour later, both her parents came in to wish her a good night. "We love you so much, Hermione. Please just remember that," her mother said, and kissed her on the forehead. She stroked her hair back from Hermione's face and smiled down at her. Her father came over and scooped her up in a hug and kissed her forehead as well. "Love you, kiddo," he said. They left the room, her mother sparing a last glance at her daughter before she shut the door.

_That was weird,_ she thought. She shrugged and flipped off her light, settling her book down on the floor beside her bed before falling asleep.

The next morning Hermione woke up and stretched luxuriously before rolling out of bed. She took off her shorts and slipped on some jeans before throwing her hair up so quicklythat pieces of hair fell out of the hair tie. She skipped down the stairs and into the kitchen. As she approached the refrigerator, she eyed the letter still sitting on the table. Abandoning food, at least for the moment, she picked up the piece of paper and read over it.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I know that after reading this you'll be very confused and probably angry, as well, but please try to understand. I'm sure you're aware that you're adopted. If not, well, then I'm sorry, and you know now. We had to give you up. The Dark Lord has superstitions about twins that grow up together. He could sense that you and your twin brother were strong before you were even born, and he didn't want to run the chance of being overpowered one day. He thought you would be weaker apart. So he forced your father and me to send one of you away or else he would kill you both. _

_I'm sorry Hermione. Picking between you and your brother was the hardest decision we ever made, and I'm sure now, more than ever, that there was no right decision. We don't love your brother more than you, please never think that. It's just the way things worked out. _

_I understand if you don't want to ever meet us and are terribly mad at us, but just please know we love you and we would love if you would come to live with us. Now that you are almost of age, the Dark Lord has said that you may come back to us. I hope you do come. There's not a day that goes by that I don't regret ever putting you up for adoption, but please believe it was the only way._

_You have a twin that is very eager to meet you. He is sometimes linked to your emotions. If you are feeling a strong emotion, he can sense it. There have been many occasions where he has come to us to tell us to not worry, because you're happy. _

_I hope to see you sometime in the near future. We love you so much, Hermione._

_Your loving family,_

_Madison, Pierrick, and Blaise Zabini_

Hermione nearly dropped the letter. _I'm a Zabini?_ _Not only am I from a wizarding family, I'm from a _pureblood _wizarding family that is in league with _Voldemort_. Zabini is in Slytherin. Zabini is my _twin!_ This can't be._

The letter left Hermione with an even larger, if possible, curiosity and desire to speak to these people. _No. You have Mom and Dad. You don't need the Zabini's. Even if your birth mother is desperate to meet you. As is your twin. And your father. _She sighed. She still wouldn't just leave her parents.

She folded the letter and put it in the back pocket of her pants and headed once more to the refrigerator. Upon opening it she found absolutely nothing to eat. She checked in the freezer. Nothing. Pantries? Nothing. _Geez, does no one shop in this house?_ She headed to the counter and picked up the jar containing the loose cash for groceries. She pulled out a handful of bills, and snatched her dad's car keys off the coffee table before heading to the door. Pausing only to slip on a pair of flip flops, she headed out of the door to the car and set off for the grocery store.

She rolled down her window as she drove and turned the radio on a little louder as she coasted down the road. She had received her driver's license the past summer and loved driving, although she rarely ever got to do it.

Finally, she arrived at the store. Pulling into a spot in the semi-full parking lot, she got out and headed towards the door. She spent at least an hour getting all kinds of meat, veggies, and some snacks. Finally she went to check out.

On her way home, she took a different route. A route which she knew led to a donut shop. _Good start to the morning, I think. _She bought a few plain donuts for her parents (because they're dentists), and a few of her choice. She paid for the yummy breakfast and headed home.

A few blocks away from her house she brought the car to a screeching stop in the middle of the road. An enraged driver sped around her, yelling and making obscene gestures, but she paid no attention. Other drivers passed, horns blaring. All Hermione could focus on was the Dark Mark hovering in the sky.

_Maybe it's not my house,_ she thought trying to reassure herself. She stomped on the gas and tore past the streets before finally turning into her neighborhood. There it was. The Dark Mark polluting the sky directly above her house. She stopped abruptly in the driveway and tore out of the car, running as fast as she could towards the front door; the front door, which was no longer there, having been blown off its hinges. She ran around the downstairs looking for her parents but couldn't find them. She took a deep breath and sprinted up the stairs towards their room.

She yanked open their door without preparing herself, and nearly vomited at the sight in front of her. Her father was sprawled across the bed, blood dripping off his hand which hung over the edge of the bed. There was blood covering his face and body. The tore her gaze from him and saw her mother on the floor in a bloody heap. They had obviously used the Cruciatus Curse on her. Her face was the picture of agony. Both were unmistakably dead.

Hermione collapsed to the ground onto her knees. Deep sobs wracked her body as she took in the sight of the people who had raised her into the girl she was.

She stayed like that for at least an hour. Finally, she got up off her stiff knees and walked, in a daze, towards her room. She pulled the letter from her birth parents out of her pants and stared at it as she walked. That was the only place she could go. She retrieved her wand out of her trunk and muttered a spell so that the entire contents of her closet were miniaturized and thrown into her open trunk. Same with her books, and anything else of importance. Finally, she miniaturized her trunk and put it in her pocket.

She didn't care that she had just used illegal magic. She walked downstairs to the fireplace and took a handful of the floo powder that sat next to it before tossing it in. Hermione's parents had had their fireplace hooked up to the floo network the summer before her third year. _They were always so supportive of me, _she thought. Suddenly she stopped. Where did the Zabini's live? She ran back to the kitchen and grabbed the discarded envelope from the table. Coming back, she grabbed another handful of floo powder since the previous handful had worn off and tossed it into the fire. Glancing once more at the envelope she held in her hand she stepped into the flames and yelled "Zabini Manor!"

Like I said, please review or else I'm going to completely abandon this story. There's no point of writing stories if people don't like it. PLEASE REVIEW. CLICK THE LITTLE BLUE/PURPLE/WHATEVER-EFFING-COLOR-THAT-THING-IS BUTTON.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

Thank you soo much to Jackalope hunter…my lone reviewer haha. Oh well I'm over it. And Jackalope your review made me laugh so much because that is exactly what I said when I read that Blaise was black. And yeah it was in the 6th book. Which should be burned. It also said that Blaise's mom had like multiple husbands all of which "mysteriously" died. Yeah, totally forget you ever read that, too, because I'm not sticking to it. Sorry J.K.

Previously:

_Glancing once more at the envelope she held in her hand she stepped into the flames and yelled "Zabini Manor!"_

Hermione stepped out of an ornate fireplace onto an elegant rug. Looking down she almost wished she could just step back into the fireplace just so that she wouldn't dirty the rug with soot. She looked around the room she was in. It was apparently a family room, but the term seemed wrong. A "family room" was where the couches were and the TV and the numerous remote controls. A "family room" was littered with newspapers that someone had been too lazy to put away, or an open book someone had just been reading.

This was no "family room."

She stared in awe at the sparkling clean coffee table in front of her. The top was clear glass and was held up by elaborate silver. Behind it rested a plush tan couch which complemented the scarlet walls. To the right of the couch was a matching armchair while to the left of the couch was a tan love seat. _Perfect for reading books on,_ Hermione thought.

Far behind the couch was a long, magnificent, winding staircase leading to a second floor. There was an entryway to another room on her left and one near the staircase on her right. She picked right.

As she was approaching the doorway she noticed she still clutched the envelope from her letter in her hand. She quickly folded it and shoved it in her back pocket with her letter. She walked towards the doorway carefully.

"Hello?" She called out. She didn't want to startle someone. Now that she thought about it, this was the stupidest idea she ever had. Sure, she didn't really have a choice about coming here, because it's not like she could live anywhere else, but she could have at least caught the Knight Bus or something. How rude to just floo yourself in. If someone did that to her, she'd be pissed. _Shit, this is the worst. _

She had just turned around to head back to the fireplace to floo herself back to her house to catch the Knight Bus instead of just showing up unannounced, when a voice behind her stopped her in her tracks.

"Baby?" a feminine voice behind her asked.

Hermione turned around slowly. The voice didn't _sound_ mad. She met a woman standing a few feet away from her. She was a couple of inches taller than Hermione, but she had the same brunette curls. The only difference was, her hair was long and the curls fell in elegant thick rings while Hermione's own untame, frizzy hair was still in the gross pony tail she had thrown it up in that morning. The woman's eyes were so blue they were like two pieces of chipped ice. They were not unlike Malfoy's only this woman's weren't cold and hard. They were full of warmth and, love? Hermione also noticed that the woman was slender and had smaller than average breasts. _Kinda like me,_ she thought, finally starting to piece everything together.

"Hermione?" the lady tried again.

"Yes," she said, gasping out the word.

"Oh, Hermione!" She exclaimed and ran towards her before embracing her in a tight, warm hug.

Slowly, the past hours began to sink in with Hermione. Her parents had been killed by Death Eaters, and her real mother was here hugging her like there was no tomorrow. For the second time that day Hermione broke into sobs, letting the woman clutching her sooth her. She was crying in sadness mourning her parents and crying in happiness knowing that she wasn't alone. She still had people that loved her.

Hermione's legs gave outfrom beneathher and her mother collapsed with her, never letting her go. It was then that Hermione realized her mother was sobbing as much as her.

"Oh my baby, my baby," she was saying over and over. "It's okay, I'm here, it's okay."

Hermione let herself sob on this woman's shoulder. She had only known her for maybe a full minute before she was staining this poor lady's nice dress with her tears. _But this isn't just any lady_, a voice in her head told her, _this is your mom._ And surprisingly, Hermione felt at ease.

Yes I know it's insanely short but I thought this was a good place to stop. I'll post again soon. I promise. Until then REVIEW!


	3. Chapter 3

Yeah I have no idea about the Blaise equals Italian thing. I'm guessing someone thought that it would be cool to say he was. And then everyone else decided that was pretty cool. And then J.K. got pissed because we were all getting it messed up so she was like "psh ill put this in the effing book. Now they have no excuse." And praying mantiseses bite off their mates penis. And kill them. Black widows…I dunno. They just kill them, I guess. P.S. I wish I had a moo-ing fish

Previously:

_Hermione let herself sob on this woman's shoulder. She had only known her for maybe a full minute before she was staining this poor lady's nice dress with her tears. _But this isn't just any lady_, a voice in her head told her, _this is your mom_. And surprisingly, Hermione felt at ease._

The two women sat on the floor like that for what seemed like hours but was really just minutes. Finally Hermione pulled away from her mother. She was sitting there next to her wearing a gray silk dress that was now getting wrinkled. Hermione felt guilty but couldn't find the strength to stand, so just sat there looking at her hands.

A soft hand tilted Hermione's chin up. "Darling, what's wrong?" Her mother inquired. She had an understanding look on her face, as though she was prepared for anything Hermione could throw at her.

Hermione had never met this woman before, but she had an unexplainable urge to spill her entire life story to her. She took a deep breath. "I received your letter, and no offense or anything, but I wasn't planning on coming. I wasn't just going to leave my parents." Her mother looked both guilty and sad at the last statement. "But then this morning I went to the store and picked up some breakfast…" her voice faltered. She cleared her throat and tried to swallow down the large lump forming. "When I came back the Dark Mark was over my house and I found both my parents dead in their room." A few more tears escaped her eyes, but that was all. She had no more tears to cry.

Her mother heaved a sigh and sadness flickered over her stunning features. "I'm so sorry, honey," she said. "I don't know if this is the best time to tell you, but our familyare Death Eaters." At Hermione's stricken expression she continued hurriedly, "But we're spies for the Order of the Phoenix. Do you know what that is?" Hermione nodded. "Good. Well then, you know we work with Dumbledore." Another nod. "And, you should know before you decide to stay here that you might be required to take the Mark." The last sentence was said with noticeable apprehension.

Surprisingly, Hermione didn't look shocked at all. She actually had a slight smile on her face. "I can be a spy, too?"

Her mother nodded.

"I'll do it. It's the least I owe to my parents," she said with resolution in her voice.

Her mother smiled at her determination before her bright smile flickered a little. Hermione noticed. "What is it?"

"Nothing. It's just I feel jealous of the Grangers. They got to spend so much time with you while I barely know my own daughter."

Hermione smiled a reassuring smile. "Well, I'm here now. And I'm not going anywhere for a while…Mom."

The woman in front of her was suddenly grinning like a madwoman. She threw her arms around her daughter pulling her close. "I love you so much, Hermione. I knew the day you and your brother were born that you would be an amazing girl."

Suddenly Hermione pulled back. "I forgot! My brother! It's Blaise."

Madison smiled. "Do you two know each other already?"

"Well, not really. I know he's friends with Draco Malfoy, who is definitely not one of my favorite people in the world, but I've never really talked to Blaise."

"Blaise has been waiting so long to meet you. I told you in the letter I sent you that Blaise is connected to your feelings sometimes. There have been times where he's worried himself sick over you. He would write us letters from school saying how distressed he was because he could feel your fear but couldn't do anything to help you." Madison said.

This only made Hermione want to meet Blaise as her brother even more. "Is he here right now?" she asked eagerly, her eyes shining.

"He's over at Draco's house right now, and your father is at work. I'm going to go owl them both telling them to come back. You just make yourself at home, since this is your home now. You're not Hermione Granger anymore. Now you're the pureblood Hermione Zabini." She said before picking herself off the ground to go owl the two men of the family.

"Hermione Zabini," she repeated to herself, still on the floor. "I like it." She slowly got to her feet and started walking around the family room. She walked to the staircase and was examining the beautifully wrought metal railing when she heard the fire roar behind her. She swung around and saw emerging from the fireplace a boy about 6'1" with black hair and blue eyes. She recognized him the moment he looked up. This was Blaise Zabini.

He looked caught off guard. _Perhaps Mother didn't get a chance to owl him yet._ Suddenly he was running at her. Hermione screamed and put her hands up in a defensive gesture thinking he was trying to attack her, but found herself swept up in the strong arms of her brother. He was twirling her around in the air laughing, his black hair falling in his eyes.

His laughter was infectious, and Hermione found herself laughing, too, as she let herself be swung around the room. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. He lowered her down, but didn't remove his arms from her. After a full minute or so of standing there Hermione said, "So are you planning on letting me go anytime soon?"

"I'm afraid if I let you go I'll never see you again," he mumbled.

"You don't have to worry about that anymore," she whispered.

He finally loosened his grip on her and Hermione saw over his shoulder their mother leaning on the door frame watching the scene with silent tears coursing down her cheeks and a smile on her face. "I owled your father," she said to them before returning to the kitchen.

Blaise took his sister's hand and led her up the stairs to an enormous upstairs. Hetookher to one of the many doors and opened it. "This is your room," he said with an eager smile and pushed her in the door before following himself.

Hermione gasped. The walls were a light white color with a large king size bed up against the left wall with pink silk sheets underneath a black comforter. There was a closet on the right wall and a changing screen in the corner. To the left of the door was a huge dresser. Against the left wall a few feet away from the bed was another door. She opened it and found a large bathroom. There were two sinks, a Jacuzzi sized bathtub and a shower. Tucked back in its own little room was a toilet. On the far side of the bathroom there was another door.

Blaise seemed to notice where she was looking. "That door leads to my room. So if you need anything I'm just a bathroom away."

She looked impressed. "This house is amazing. It's so big, and everything is so exquisite."

"Yeah, it's pretty fantastic." He paused. "You know, I can't believe I've been wanting to meet my sister for so long and you were under my nose the entire time."

Hermione laughed. "Yeah I was pretty surprised to learn you were my brother, too." Off his look she continued hurriedly, "Not upset, just surprised. You were surprised to see me, too."

"Yeah. I also thought it was pretty funny that the girl Draco's been calling a mudblood for the past six years is not only a pureblood, but my sister. That reminds me, I'll be having a talk with him later." He muttered.

"So," she said, with a smirk identical to her brother's, "who's older?"

He looked proud. "Me. By seventeen minutes and forty-seven seconds."

Chapter 3 is doooone. So obviously they're FRATERNAL twins. Hence the not identical thing…Um…please review?


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry about the delay. It's up now! Thank you everyone for the reviews. You're what got me to stop being lazy and actually post. And about the longer chapters, I'll try. I really will.

Previously:

"_So," she said, with a smirk identical to her brother's, "who's older?" _

_He looked proud. "Me. By seventeen minutes and forty-seven seconds."_

For the past fifteen minutes Blaise had been sitting on Hermione's plush bed wishing he could just die. Every time he thought Hermione was done squealing and jumping up and down over something, she found something new. _God, I wish Dad would show up._ Watching her, though, he couldn't help but smile. There had never been a chance for this before. Blaise was just terribly glad she was back. But did that mean she HAD to keep screaming over miscellaneous objects she found in her room?

Yes, she DID have a walk-in closet already partially filled with gowns.

Yes, she DID have a whole dresser specifically for underwear.

Yes, she DID have a designer necklace and matching bracelet on her pillow waiting there from their mother that she must have levitated up.

Yes, she actually DID have all those fifty other things she found in various hiding spots.

But for the love of God. A man could only take so much.

Finally, the sound of their mother calling up the stairs saved Blaise from any more torture.

"Come on, kid, Dad's home," Blaise called to her from the bed. She was currently behind the changing screen doing who knew what.

She popped her head out from behind it with a giant grin on her face. "This is amazing."

"Yes, sister dearest, I do believe you've already used that adjective a few times." His tone was one of mock seriousness, but he had a smile plastered to his face. "Come on, Father will be anxious to meet you."

Hermione skipped out from behind the screen and he noticed that she had already put on the necklace and bracelet she had found on her bed. He smiled wider and held his arm out for her to take.

She accepted happily, and together they left the huge room and made their way back down the hall to descend the staircase. Hermione kept her eyes on the steps to make sure she didn't stumble. Her muggle parents had always joked that she was "stair challenged." The memory made a lump rise up in her throat and she blinked back the prickling starting behind her eyes.

When they finally arrived at the ground floor, Hermione looked up and her eyes locked immediately onto a pair of warm hazel eyes flecked with green directly resembling what her own eyes had changed into. _Glamour charm, perhaps?_ She thought, always perceptive. She didn't see how it would matter much, however, since Voldemort knew she would come back eventually.

The eyes were surrounded by soft laugh lines, but other than that, the rest of the skin was untouched by even the thought of wrinkles. _So this is my dad,_ she thought. She smiled softly as she took in his thick black hair, which resembled both her brother's and the infamous Harry Potter's. While Blaise's hair was neatly kept, her father's was a mess. He looked as if he had just stepped in from a wind storm. Suddenly it dawned on her that maybe he had rushed home and that's why his hair was so unkempt. She smiled even more at the thought. He had a tall stature, and stood above her mother by a good six inches. Obviously Blaise had inherited more from her father, and she from her mother. She certainly was dwarfed by her brother.

Pierrick Zabini was clothed in a black long sleeve dress shirt and black slacks, and Hermione smirked at the fact that his shoes were extremely shiny. His laugh lines, however, were not currently in effect. The look on his face was one of longing and hopefulness. The smirk left Hermione's face. He looked so sad, like he had been waiting for this and now that it was finally there, he was afraid it was a joke.

_No one should have to ever look like that._

Slightly taken aback, Hermione had lost the ability to reason and figure out how to react to the situation. She felt a warm hand on her lower back gently push her forward towards the man. Blaise seemed to have picked up on what she was feeling.

She stopped a foot or so in front of the man and looked into his identical eyes. It seemed as if he was in greater shock than Hermione was, so she decided to say something first.

"Is your hair always that messy, or are you just happy to see me?"

_Oh Jesus, I did not just say that._

However, the statement seemed to pull a smile onto her father's face and he grabbed her by the shoulders and hugged her to his chest resting his head on the top of hers. Without hesitation, Hermione wrapped her arms around his slim waist and held tight.

Madison Zabini, who knew not to interrupt her husband and daughter's reunion, stepped to Blaise's side and pulled him against her while they watched the display. Pierrick's eyes were squeezed shut and yet tears were still escaping, while muffled sniffles were heard from his chest where Hermione currently had her head buried.

After a while Pierrick's hold on Hermione loosened and she was able to step back a few inches, though her father continued holding her. She didn't bother trying to wipe away her tears, because they would just be replaced by more. "I've thought about you every day. About when you would be able to come back to us. We've missed you so much, you can't possibly comprehend." He pulled her back to him with one arm and held out his other to his wife and son who joined the group hug. Hermione felt a fullness knowing that she was still loved.

The screech of an impatient owl startled the family out of their embrace. They'd been so caught up in sharing a moment, they hadn't noticed the owl fly through the window. Madison approached the owl perched on the stair rail and untied the letter on its leg. It gave an unfriendly peck to the back of her hand and flew off.

"God damn owl." Mrs. Zabini growled rubbing the back of her hand, and Hermione laughed to hear her mother use such language. Madison looked at the envelope and handed it to Hermione. "For you," she said simply.

Confused as to who would know where to reach her, Hermione opened the envelope hurriedly and scanned the letter.

_Dear Ms. Granger,_

_We have received intelligence that a Shrinking Charm and a Levitation Charm was used at your place of residence this morning at thirteen minutes past nine._

_As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C)._

_We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Malfalda Hopkirk_

_Improper Use of Magic Office_

_Ministry of Magic_

"What is it, darling?" Hermione's mother asked.

Hermione didn't even bother feeling sheepish. This was one of the first times she had ever gotten in trouble with the Ministry, and she didn't care. "An illegal magic notification." She replied handing her mother the letter. "I used some charms after…uh—after I found my parents."

A look of clarification came across Madison's face. "I see," she said coolly. "Well, this just isn't acceptable. Pierrick," she said facing her husband, "please floo to the Ministry and get this straightened out. Tell them of the circumstances that required Hermione's use of those charms and tell them that any further use of illegal magic on her part is to be ignored, since she is back with us and there isn't a chance muggles will witness any magic." Madison's face was aristocratically stoic and her voice held authority. She obviously wasn't too pleased with the Ministry.

Looking at her father's face, Hermione saw that his face was just as composed as his wife's. "It will be taken care of, darling." He grasped Hermione's hand and squeezed once before heading back to the fireplace to floo to the Ministry.

Hermione was in shock. She would have free reign to perform magic whenever she wanted because her family was powerful. _I should probably be feeling ashamed or something right now, but this is just too cool._

"That really isn't necessary, Mother," she said, feeling like she should at least try to protest a little.

"It is, darling, it is. You're a Zabini now, and they need to be informed so they won't make such mistakes again."

"Well, if you insist," she said chirpily, not sounding sorry at all.

Blaise didn't seem to be curious as to the "circumstances" that prompted Hermone's use of the charms and her father hadn't asked questions, so she assumed that her mother had told them before they arrived. She was grateful for that. She really didn't feel like reliving the ordeal again. She fingered the heart charm on her new necklace for comfort and forgot that she had forgotten to thank her mother.

"Thank you so much for everything, Mother. For letting me stay, my room," she continued sheepishly, "all the things in my room."

"You're welcome. I should warn you now that since I've missed out on sixteen years of your life, I'm going to feel the need to spoil you a bit to make up for it," her mother replied.

Blaise, forgotten, rolled his eyes. He had been leaning on the banister since his father left, and nobody had paid him any mind. He coughed his throat.

The two ladies turned to him, remembering he was still in the room. "Blaise, dear, be a love and owl the Malfoy's and tell them that Hermione is back. Narcissa and I must plan tomorrow's party in Hermione's honor and I want Hermione to formally meet their family." Then with a smirk, "Especially Draco."

Blaise rolled his eyes again at his mother, and with a smile at Hermione, left the room.

Hermione didn't know which to be shocked over first. The fact that there was a party in her honor, or the fact that in a little while, she was going to be "meeting" her worst enemy and his family.

She settled for the least threatening. "Party?" she asked, shocked.

"Yes, yes, of course," her mother answered hurriedly. "To celebrate your homecoming."

"But so soon?"

"Believe me, many people will be very excited to see you again," she said, rummaging around in a drawer.

Now, to segue into the second problem. "I know one person who won't be so thrilled," she said grumpily.

Her mother emerged from the drawer with a roll of parchment and a quill and walked to the kitchen.

Hermione followed her mother andsat down at a barstool at the counter while her mother set down the writing things and placed her palms on the counter.

"And who might this be? For God's sake, even the Dark Lord is going to be happy to see you and he's the one who sent you away in the first place. Narcissa and Lucius have been your godmother and godfather, respectively, since you were born…"

"Yes, well, it's the youngest Malfoy that I'm worried about. We've never been on the best terms." _Understatement of the century._

"Draco doesn't really think like a Death Eater, you know. The Malfoy's are spies like us," her mother said reassuringly.

"He calls me a Mudblood. He put me and my best friends through hell every year since first year."

"I'm just asking you to give him a second chance, Hermione. It would be a shame to have you hating each other when you're going to have to spend so much time together."

Hermione sighed. This was a disaster waiting to happen.

Blaise emerged in the kitchen. "I owled the Malfoy's and invited them for dinner at eight. I also told them to invite Uncle Severus. I figured he would want to meet his goddaughter as well."

Hermione blanched at the mention of her hated potions teacher. _Uncle Severus? Merlin, save me._

"Perfect, darling. Please help Hermione find a dress for tonight? And find something suitable to you to wear as well," their mother requested.

"Something for me in her closet? Are you insane, Mother?" Blaise asked.

Madison's eyes narrowed at her eldest. "You may be taller than me but I can still punish you, young man."

"You'd have to be able to reach me first." His smile put a light in his eyes.

Hermione laughed at the display. She felt at home.

"Go on, do as you're told," she said with mock anger. "I'm owling Dumbledore."

Her children nodded and headed through the door towards the stairs.

Madison wrote a short letter to the Headmaster notifying him that Hermione was fine and had arrived safely. The old coot knew the rest anyway. It was pesky really.

This took so long to write and almost nothing happened and its still short. I'm sorry. I was really anxious to get this up though. It's been too long. I promise, the next update won't take nearly as long. The next chapter will contain (hopefully) all of the following: meeing the Malfoy's, the party, and the mandatory shopping/mini-makeover extravaganza. It will be so much fun! So please please please review!


	5. Chapter 5

Again, I'm sorry it took so long. Unfortunately, I am in an AP English class in which we get an essay a night. Literally. Kill me please? Also, I just discovered how to look at hits. I have like 700 something hits. And 20 something reviews. Geez people come on! Please be generous with your love! Also, thank you to everyone that put me on your favorite stories list. That makes me feel so special you don't even know!

Previously:

_Madison wrote a short letter to the Headmaster notifying him that Hermione was fine and had arrived safely. The old coot knew the rest anyway. It was pesky really._

Hermione perched on a dresser in her walk-in closet watching her brother push gowns aside, muttering to himself. She was perfectly content to sit and let him do the work; her mind was still going crazy over everything that had happened. And on top of everything, she had to meet her arch nemesis and his family in a formal dinner that night. Not to mention "Uncle Severus." Oh joy.

She had been feeling a strong sense of foreboding ever since her mother had said she would be spending a lot of time with Malfoy. Thoughts were running through her head. Did Malfoy already know about her being a pureblood? How will he react if he doesn't?

Looking at her frustrated brother who was currently scowling at a pink silky dress and muttering something about "never letting you wear it out," she decided to find out so she at least had steady ground to stand on when the time came to meet Malfoy.

"Does Malfoy know about me, Blaise?" she asked, startling the dark haired boy out of his quiet rant.

He appraised her for a moment before answering. "He was there when mother owled me about you."

Hermione was nervous. "So that's a yes?"

"Yes." He had a carefully blank look on his face.

She didn't know whether to feel good or bad about that news. "Um…what did he say?"

"Well, I was kind of in a rush," he said looking at her pointedly, "So I showed him Mum's letter and said I had to go. He just said good luck."

A little bit of the elephant resting on Hermione's shoulders eased off. So he took it relatively well.

"Why do you care so much?" Blaise asked suspiciously.

"Well, uh, let's see here brother dearest," she answered sarcastically, rolling her eyes, "We've only been enemies since first year. Can you blame me for being a tad worried?"

"He'll get over it," Blaise said dismissively, waving a hand and returning to the dresses. "And if he doesn't, I'll make him."

Hermione sighed. There wasn't any use in worrying over it, since she was going to be meeting him formally one way or another. She watched as Blaise found the perfect gown for dinner. Smiling triumphantly, he held the dress in the air.

Looking pleased with himself, he deposited the hanger in Hermione's open hand and pushed her out the doorway into her bedroom. "I'll be in my room looking for something to wear as well. If you need me for something, come get me."

Hermione looked at the beautiful creation in her hand. All of a sudden this seemed too much. She had no experience with this sort of thing at all. She didn't know how to be pureblood. She had read things about pureblood customs and all she could pull to mind was that they were much stricter than normal wizard's regulations on the proper way to act. They had rules on everything from walking to eating to sitting to greeting people. All of which she would need to know by tonight. Not to mention she didn't have the least clue about grooming herself properly. The only pureblood family she had spent time around was the Weasley's, and they certainly didn't enforce any of those kinds of rules.

Overwhelmed, she tossed the gown on her bed and ran downstairs to the kitchen. She entered and saw her mother scribbling things on parchment and mumbling about flowers and place settings. _The party_, she thought.

"Mum," she said interrupting her mother's train of thought.

"Yes, darling?" Madison asked smiling at her daughter.

Hermione's nose scrunched up as she exclaimed, "I have no idea how to act or how to do anything the way a pureblood should! I can't meet the Malfoy's or Snape tonight!" She sat down with a humph on a stool facing her mother.

"Don't be silly, of course you can," Madison said, waving a hand dismissively. "It's only the Malfoy's and your godfather. They don't care whether or not you can behave properly. They're practically your family!" Madison chanced a glance at her daughter's face. Hermione's face had gone from angry to downtrodden.

"I can't look like I don't know what I'm doing, Mum, especially not in front of Malfoy," she said quietly.

Madison stood there across the counter watching her daughter. There was still so much to learn about her. From Hermione's previous statement, she could infer that she was intelligent and possibly in competition with Draco. Madison was aware Draco was very bright and in the top of his class; Merlin knows Narcissa had bragged enough. She also seemed to recall there was only one person ahead of him.

"What are you ranked in your class?" Madison asked Hermione suddenly.

Hermione blinked. That had come out of nowhere. "First," she replied and couldn't help feeling a little proud at being able to tell her new mother something impressive.

Madison beamed at Hermione. "So you're the one ahead of Draco?"

Hermione smirked, "That would be me."

Her mother actually bounced up and down where she stood. "Oh wait until I tell 'Cissy that _my_ baby is the one ahead of her darling." Off of Hermione's look she continued, "Well, not that I don't love them to death, but it's not as if Blaise has given me much to brag about and I've been bombarded with stories of Draco's magnificent intellect ever since he was enrolled at Hogwarts."

Hermione laughed. It felt good to have her mother so proud of her. She also now had something to bug Blaise about: his grades. Ah, the beauties of sibling competition.

Remembering the situation at hand, Hermione's smile faded. Madison noticed and sighed. "If you really feel that strongly about it, I can teach you the basics right now."

Hermione's face lit up in a smile. "Will you?"

"Yes, yes of course. I can't have my little girl be shown up by the all mighty Draco, can I?"

"No," Hermione agreed and jumped to her feet. "Can we start now?"

Madison looked at Hermione's excited face. She looked as if it was Christmas morning. _This is what I've been missing._ "Of course we can. After all, we only have seven hours until everyone arrives," she said, amused.

OOO

_Don't drop it, don't drop it, don't drop it, _Hermione chanted in her mind. The heavy weight of the book on top of her head made her unable to glance down at the steps to see where she was going. _This is an accident waiting to happen. _

"Come on, just a few more steps to go," he mother said encouragingly from the bottom.

"A few?" Hermione replied, "I'm at the top!"

"Anything under thirty is a few, darling."

She focused on a spot on the wall and tried to measure her steps without losing balance of the book or herself.

"Don't forget, one foot directly in front of the other," her mother said.

She was so concentrated that she didn't notice the sound of the fireplace whooshing as someone flooed in.

"There you go, that's the way," Pierrick's loud voice startled her and made her trip over the stair she was on, sending her flying the remaining eight stairs.

Hermione screamed as the book went flying off her head and she went crashing headfirst into her father. He grabbed her before she could slip to the floor and placed her on her feet.

"Don't worry, bun, I have trouble with stairs, as well," he said with a smirk on his face. "Luckily I don't have to look pretty while I descend them."

He walked towards the kitchen door while throwing over his shoulder, "It just happens naturally."

Madison rolled her eyes at her husband. "Yes, darling, you're the most beautiful at all the parties we go to. The women all envy you."

"Damn right!" could be heard from inside the kitchen.

Laughing, Hermione approached her mother.

"Okay, so you have the walk down perfectly," Madison started, ticking off fingers. "You pretty much have the stairs. We'll just hope that no one will be yelling at you while you're coming down." Hermione nodded her head. "Now to work on your greetings," Madison got a severe look on her face. "There will be no more of this 'Malfoy' business. We never address people by their surname. His name is Draco, and you will call him by it."

"He always calls me Granger. And Harry and Ron are Potter and Weasley," Hermione complained.

"He won't tonight. Schools do not impose pureblood traditions, but parents do. He will address you as Hermione." Madison got a thoughtful look on her face. "Perhaps he only addressed you by your surname because he thought you were a muggleborn."

"So?" Hermione demanded angrily. "That doesn't make it any better."

"No, but did you not say that you two weren't on the best of terms?"

"We hate each other."

"Well, there you go."

Hermione was silent. _What just happened? _Before she could even think of the logic behind what her mother was saying, Madison was dragging her up the stairs rambling, "The rest isn't important, just sit up straight, look people in the eye when you talk, kiss on both cheeks when greeting women, offer a hand with men, all customary things. I'm sure you can figure it out. We'll go into specifics when we have more time."

Once upstairs, Madison directed Hermione into the master bedroom and onto the seat of her vanity. Madison looked at her daughter in the reflection while twirling strands of Hermione's hair around her fingers.

"Okay, where to start, where to start?" she muttered to herself. Nodding to herself, she grabbed a bright pink bottle of something off the vanity and started massaging it through Hermione's hair. Pulling through the curls with her fingers, Madison hummed to herself. Hermione found that she liked her mother's voice.

When Madison was done, Hermione's former mass of curls had been tamed down to loose curls spiraling down her back. Watching her mother's reflection in the mirror, Hermione noticed that their hair looked exactly the same. She smiled to herself. At least she wasn't the only one who needed a little help from a bottle to tame her hair.

Smiling at her creation, Madison began to apply makeup to Hermione's face. Soon she had a smoother complexion, fuller lips and her hazel green eyes seemed to stand out more. _My mom works magic even without a wand, _she thought.

She grinned at her reflection and then up at her mother's face in the mirror. "Thank you so much. I've never looked like this in my life."

"I'll show you how to do it so you can keep up appearances at school. You have a reputation to uphold now." All of a sudden, Madison gasped.

Hermione felt her wrist being wrenched up to her mother's eyelevel. She struggled to get her head up enough to see what her mother was gasping about.

"I can't believe I didn't notice these earlier!"

"What?" Hermione demanded.

"Your cuticles are terrible! When was the last time you got a manicure?" Her mother asked, looking intently at her face.

Hermione gaped. All this over her cuticles? "Uh…last summer with my mum."

Her mother looked as if her daughter had just announced her engagement to Voldemort. Hurriedly, Madison looked at her watch and started ushering Hermione out the door to the stairs. Finally, Hermione was placed in front of the fireplace after almost falling to her death on the stairs…twice.

Pressing a few galleons into Hermione's hand, she grabbed a handful of floo powder and tossed it into the flames, which roared up green. "Hold on a moment," Madison demanded before running to the kitchen. She returned holding a piece of parchment in her hand, which she also handed to Hermione. "When you get there, ask for Edelle and give her this note."

Before she knew it, Hermione was being pushed into the flames. She vaguely heard her mum yell "Magic Wonders Salon!" behind her before being sent off.

She stumbled into a wonderful-smelling salon filled with more hair products than she had seen in her entire life. There were ten stations with women and a few men getting their hair cut, colored, and styled by fashionable looking ladies. Scanning the salon, she found the front desk and approached the blonde haired receptionist who was busy on the phone.

"Hi, this is Mandy from Magic Wonders Salon, is Diana there? No? Okay, well can you please take a message? Just tell her that we called to confirm her three o'clock appointment for tomorrow afternoon. Yes, you too. Bye." The girl glanced up with a bright smile on her face. "Hi, may I help you?"

Hermione was taken aback. Who could be that cheerful all the time? Placing a polite smile on her face as well, she replied, "I'm here to see Edelle."

"Alright, go back and to the left," she said and picked up the phone to continue calling.

Walking to the back, Hermione put the galleons in her pocket. Finally, she arrived at a desk where a woman with brown hair in a complicated looking up-do was sitting, reading a magazine. She glanced up when Hermione approached her and set the magazine down on the desk. "Can I help you, dearie?" the woman inquired kindly.

"I'm here to see Edelle," Hermione replied.

"That's me. Are you here for a manicure? Pedicure? Both?" Edelle asked smiling up at her.

Hermione handed her the note. After a minute of scanning it, Edelle looked at her watch much like Madison had before hurriedly jamming a pair of black-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose.

"Sit down, sit down, honey. We don't have much time," she said quickly and motioning to the chair across from her.

Sitting down, Hermione began to wish she had read the note her mother had written. Glancing up at a clock on the wall, Hermione realized why everyone was in such a hurry. She only had two hours to get her nails done and get back home to get dressed before the Malfoy's and Snape arrived.

Hermione sat back and let Edelle fix her terrible cuticles while her mind wandered to more important matters: how she was going to survive dinner.

Many scenarios passed through her mind from running away, (unlikely), to ignoring Malfoy—no—Draco completely, (very likely). Hermione was so lost in her thoughts that when Edelle shook her arm, she jumped in her seat.

"I said, you're done, honey. Now run home quickly. You don't want to be late to show off those beautiful nails, do you?"

Startled, Hermione looked at the clock again. Forty-five minutes had passed already. She held her hands in front of her. Gorgeous, French tipped fake nails stared back at her. _That's more than cuticles,_ she thought. Hurriedly, she reached for her pocket…only to find she couldn't get her hand in. Her fingers felt so awkward and abnormally long trying to retrieve the coins. Finally, she managed to get a thumb and a forefinger in to pull out the money.

After placing the coins on the table between them, Hermione thanked Edelle and practically ran back to the fireplace. "Zabini Manor!" she shouted before stepping into the flames and appearing back in the living room.

The atmosphere was different this time; it was dark outside, so lamps were on, casting the ornately decorated room in a golden glow, making it appear even more expensive looking.

"Mum, I'm home!" she called out, her voice echoing in the large room.

"I'm upstairs!" she heard called back. "Hurry and get your dress on!"

Rushing up the stairs, Hermione arrived in her bedroom and hurriedly flicked the light switch on the wall, illuminating the room. She walked to her bedside and gazed at the beautiful dress thrown haphazardly across the smooth comforter. It was a light golden champagne color made of sleek satin which glimmered in the bright lighting.

Snapping herself out of the stupor the dress had put her in, Hermione reached for the hem of her shirt and yanked it over her head, mussing her curls. Suddenly she looked at the dress straps. They were skinny. Hermione grabbed her wand off her dresser and transfigured the bra she was wearing into a strapless so that she wouldn't look tacky wearing the dress. Next she reached for her jeans button only to find that her new set of nails were making it very difficult to undo said button. _I really need to get used to these things,_ she thought to herself, struggling desperately with the button.

Finally, in an act of desperation, Hermione threw open her bedroom door and ran down the hallway, bra and all, yelling "MUM!" at the top of her lungs, "I NEED HELP!"

Her mother opened her door and promptly elapsed into a laughing fit at the sight of her daughter running down the hall wearing jeans and a bra. "With these stupid nails I can't get my button undone on my jeans!"

"You're going to have to learn soon, honey, we can't have you running down hallways half naked with company over, can we?" Madison replied, amused. Quickly, she reached down and popped open the button. "Hurry now, will you? Can't have the Malfoy's showing up early and having Draco get an eyeful."

Hermione's eyes widened and she spun towards the banister where she could see the fireplace downstairs. No Malfoy's yet. She sprinted back down the hall towards her room with a yelled "Thanks Mum!" over her shoulder.

Madison rolled her eyes good-naturedly and closed her door again. "What was that about?" Pierrick asked from the bed where he was yanking on socks.

"Nail trouble," she replied, returning to her vanity.

"Ah," he said knowingly, "As I recall, you had a bit of that, as well." He smirked. "I helped you out pretty well, didn't I?"

"Shut up, Pierrick."

OOO

Back in her room, Hermione had managed to get her dress on with no further problems. She was now seated at her own vanity applying some a light eyeshadow to her lids and a pale pink gloss to her lips. She had managed to keep her curls intact from when her mother had done them, so she used a gold bobby pin she had found in one of her drawers to pin some hair back from her face.

She looked at herself in the mirror. She was still herself, but somehow different. It seemed that since that morning she had grown older. She smiled reassuringly at her reflection and retreated to her closet to look for shoes.

While Hermione was staring at her "shoe wall" as she had come to call it, since it was a wall comprised only of shelves and somewhere around eighty pairs of shoes, Blaise came up behind her quietly.

"Need help?" he asked.

Hermione jumped. "Do you have to sneak up behind me like that, Blaise?"

He smirked. "Yes." Blaise turned her around to fully face him and held her at an arm's length to inspect her. "Very nice. If I wasn't scared for my masculinity, I would consider being a personal shopper."

"Well then, do me a favor and pick me out some shoes, and I'll think about keeping my mouth shut about your questionable sexual preference," she replied.

Blaise scowled at his sister and approached the daunting wall. After a moment of quiet searching, he turned around with a pair of strappy golden heels.

Hermione looked at the offending shoes with a somewhat scared expression. "Could I maybe put these on _after _I get down the stairs?"

She watched in horror as her brother shook his head in the negative and deposited the heels at her feet. "Good luck," he said before turning around to leave. When he reached the doorway he turned around almost as an afterthought and said, "Maybe next time you'll think before you question my manliness." He smirked and continued out the door.

Defeated, Hermione slipped her feet into the shoes and practiced walking in them.

OOO

"How do you think tonight will go?" Pierrick asked Madison glancing at the clock, "They should be here in a few minutes."

"I hope Draco and Hermione will get along. They apparently are rivals at school, and you know how Draco is towards muggleborns, sometimes," Madison replied. "It doesn't help that Hermione is first in her class and Draco is right behind her."

Pierrick looked proud. "Well that's a good thing. At least we didn't pair her up with someone that turned out as dumb as Gregory or Vincent." Then, "Or as ugly."

"Yes, Draco is very handsome, but he needs to grow up a little. I have no doubt that he will turn out to be a wonderful man, but his petty prejudices, however meaningless, are not something he needs to cling to right now," Madison replied worriedly. She had loved Draco like he was her own since he was a baby, but he was going to make it more difficult with himself and Hermione if he kept it up. Even though she was a pureblood, Hermione had grown up "muggleborn" and knew what it was like to be treated as such. She would not respond kindly to anymore of Draco's taunts towards any of her friends or other muggleborns.

"He'll outgrow them, I feel sure. Who knows, maybe Hermione will help him step out of them sooner rather than later," Pierrick replied, always the optimist.

"If tonight goes wrong, do you realize how hard it will be to break the news to Hermione? Not to mention how _impossible_ for Narcissa and Lucius to tell Draco." She sighed. "Let's just hope that tonight goes as planned. They need to get used to being around each other. Otherwise, I'm sure the future is going to be a bloody one."

Pierrick smirked. "Yeah, for Draco."

A muffled whoosh from downstairs signaled the fireplace. "They're here," Madison replied with a sharp inhale.

Pierrick took her hand and let her to the door. "Here's to hoping."

OOO

Hermione was walking around innocently in her room trying to perfect her walk when she heard it: the footsteps down the stairs and the muffled sound of voices…more voices than just her mother and father.

_Oh my god, _she thought. The time had finally come. Hermione took a huge breath and let it out. _Well, that didn't help._

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Blaise come through the bathroom door into her room, but she didn't turn her head. "I can't do this," she said.

Her twin approached her and stood in her line of vision. Setting a reassuring hand on her shoulder he said, "You'll be fine." He offered her his arm.

Hermione ran a hand down her face, defeated. _Come on, Hermione, you've faced countless dangers at Harry's side and you're going to wimp out when all you have to do is face Malfoy?_

She placed a determined look on her face and linked her arm through her brother's, but inside she wanted to cry. She wanted to jump out the window regardless of her gorgeous dress and run away to Merlin knows where. She wanted to do something, anything, but stay there.

Hermione began to pull her arm back out from Blaise's but discovered she couldn't. She tried again. Nothing. Looking up at her brother, she found him looking at her with a set expression on his face. She finally noticed the pressure on her arm. Her darling twin had her arm locked in a death grip. There was no way she was escaping. "Shared feelings, remember?" he said. Then somewhat disappointedly, "You're stronger than this."

Hermione looked back down at her arm and decided to just accept it. This was going to have to happen sooner or later. Straightening her posture and adjusting her hair with her free hand, she decided that if she was going to do this she was going to do it right. _I'm a pureblood,_ she said to herself, _I'm the same as Malfoy…er…Draco._

As her brother led her to the door, Hermione absently noted the lack of pressure on her arm.

OOO

"Cissy!" Madison exclaimed once Pierrick and herself had reached the downstairs. She removed her hand from her husband's and enfolded the other woman in a hug. The blonde woman grinned and hugged her back enthusiastically.

"It's been so long, darling!" Narcissa replied.

"It's been a week," Came Lucius' mumbled comment. Pierrick laughed and shook the taller man's hand.

"Oh Lucius, how _have _you been, well I hope? May I interest you in some tea while we gossip about the new season's lingerie?" Pierrick asked Lucius mimicking his wife's voice.

"Oh Pierrick, I thought you'd _never _ask!" Lucius replied.

Madison rolled her eyes and approached the youngest Malfoy, who still stood a good half a foot above her. Draco had a similar look on his face and embraced the woman with a smile. Madison asked, "And how have you been, sweetie? Enjoying your vacation, I hope?"

"Yes, thank you. I've been pretty busy with summer work and I'm still waiting to hear from Dumbledore about the Head Boy position," he said. His voice had dropped yet another octave since she had talked with him last.

"Oh Draco, you're growing up so fast! I can't believe you're already seventeen! I remember when you were just a little blonde toddler running around this house breaking family heirlooms and wreaking havoc," Madison teased.

"I never broke any family heirlooms!" Draco replied defensively, "You said it was a present from your mother in law and you didn't care anyway."

"Hey!" Came Pierrick's indignant yell from across the room.

"Did you have to say it so loud?" Madison muttered in Draco's ear and gave him a light push.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard at the top of the stairs and the families turned towards the staircase.

Hermione and Blaise descended the stairs slowly, so Hermione wouldn't trip and embarrass herself. It took all of Hermione's willpower to keep walking the downward spiral to the floor level.

Draco tried to discreetly get a good look at Granger but Blaise was walking on the outside of the stairs, obscuring his view. He caught flashes of brunette and gold every once in a while until they reached the bottom. His breathe caught slightly. There was no way that was Granger. The gold dress draped her body closely all the way to her feet, where the tips of her feet poked out from under the garment. Her hair was actually under control, and were those new nails?

_She's gorgeous,_ he thought. Then, mentally slapping himself, _Wait. This is Granger. She's horrendous. _

Suddenly, he found his mother beside him, gently nudging his shoulder with a small smile. Ugh, his mother always managed to read his mind.

Narcissa stepped towards Hermione with open arms. "Oh, darling, you're beautiful. It's been so long since I've seen you, and you've grown up so well."

Hermione was taken aback slightly. Narcissa was striking, with her blonde hair in an elegant up do and her piercing blue eyes identical to her son's. She was dressed in a light blue dress, which accentuated said eyes and made her pale skin seem somehow flawless. And she was nice. This couldn't possibly be Malfoy's mother.

Glancing at her mother who was standing next to her mortal enemy, she received a nod of approval. She stepped forward and let this woman hug her like a daughter. _Maybe I was like one to her once. _ She had a sudden urge to cry and clung to Narcissa tighter. When they pulled back from each other, Lucius was standing next to his wife, looking expectantly at Hermione, eyebrow raised and smile on his face.

_Oh. My. God. There is no way this is happening. _But it was. "It's been a while, kid," he said. Now, although Hermione was fully aware that he wasn't _really _a death eater, her past confrontations with this man had not been of the good. Ever. But that way he was looking at her was the same way Narcissa had just been looking at her and she couldn't help but smile.

Lucius wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek on the top of her head, just like her own father had done just hours earlier. "We all missed you very much." Then quieter, he added, "Especially Draco. I don't think either of you remember very much, but you used to be very close."

Pulling back, Lucius turned to look at his son. Hermione studied his face, but found it unreadable. He was looking back at her with those stormy blue eyes and she shivered involuntarily. She could have sworn she saw a glimmer of amusement pass through his eyes at the act, but it was gone so fast, she couldn't be sure.

He approached her and for a moment Hermione was terrified. Was he going to hug her? Hex her? Either one sounded equally appalling at the moment.

Still staring into his eyes, Hermione surprisingly found her hand being lifted from her side gently. She watched as her own hand came into her line of vision. Malfoy lifted her hand delicately to his mouth and brushed his lips against the smooth surface. "Hermione," he said, as a way of greeting.

A surge of electricity ran down her spine at the contact and the way her name came rolling off his tongue so elegantly. He had never said her first name before. She lost some excitement as she realized her mother was right; of course he wouldn't call her 'Granger' or 'Zabini' in front of their parents. He was only calling her by her first name because he would get in trouble if he didn't, not because he wanted to. All of a sudden, she wished he had hugged her.

Looking away from her face, Draco dropped her hand and stepped backwards. _Forget it, Draco_.

The whoosh of the fireplace broke a potentially awkward silence and the occupants of the room turned around to the green flames.

A dark head appeared out of the fire followed by a black-clad body. Hermione noticed the familiar hooked nose and tell-tale grease and felt her stomach drop. Uncle Severus had arrived.

Her miserable potions professor looked up and his eyes immediately met hers from across the room. The ticked muscle in his jaw was no cover for the surprise in his eyes. Snape inched forward slowly, staring intently at Hermione.

This was too much shock for one day. She didn't have any more energy left to be scared or confused or any of the other emotions that wanted to run through her head. Hermione just stood there and let Snape decide what he was going to do, because she was tired of trying to be the bigger person.

Before she knew it, Hermione was enfolded in yet another hug, but by one of the least likely people.

"I can't believe it was you all this time," he said quietly. Hermione's arms were frozen at her sides. She knew it was rude to not hug Snape back, but this was the biggest shock of all. The greasy man who had made her potions class a living hell since first year was now embracing her. Snape noticed and stepped back. "Things will be different from now on. I promise," he said with a small smile.

Hermione managed to smile back at him. "Thank you, Professor," she said politely.

"Please, call me Uncle Severus, after all I am your godfather," Snape said.

"Okay, Uncle Severus," Hermione responded. _Merlin that felt strange._

"Well," said Madison loudly, "I for one am starved. Shall we eat?"

Murmurs of agreement followed and the hostess led her guests and family through a door Hermione hadn't noticed before to the left of the staircase. Uncle Severus was behind her mother and father chatting with Narcissa and Lucius, while Draco and Blaise followed behind her.

Hermione tried to ignore the blonde boy's presence and struggled to stay as close to Narcissa as she could without being obvious. The others went through the door and as Hermione reached to hold it open for herself, a pale hand reached out and grabbed the knob right where she had been about to.

Hermione looked to the owner of the hand and saw Draco watching her expectantly. "Uh…thank you, Draco," she said shakily.

"You're welcome," he said with a small nod.

She missed the glare Blaise sent the boy and the whispered, "Watch it, or we'll have a repeat of what I did to you the time you turned my dog pink," and the response, "I'm just being courteous. Would you rather I slam it on her foot?"

Hermione stepped into a well lit room with gold wallpaper and a large sparkling chandelier. A long table was set in the middle of the room with elaborate place settings and white plates with gold trim. Shining crystal glasses stood carefully placed above the white place mats. Not to mention the silverware was actual silver.

She stepped forward to one of the seats and noticed a small silver name card placed next to the glass. It read _Hermione, _in elegant, flowing script. Glancing at the setting on the right she saw the small _Blaise_ inscribed on the card. Slowly, Hermione turned her head to the left to inspect the card there. _Draco_. Great.

She looked up to see if she was allowed to sit yet and noticed her mother already seated and her father standing behind his chair with his hands resting on the top. Narcissa was being seated by Lucius, with Severus in the same position as her father.

"Excuse me," came a deep voice from her left. The same pale hand she had been seeing a lot of lately was now resting on the top of the chair she was supposed to be seated in. She stepped back as Draco pulled out her chair for her. She carefully adjusted her dress so it wouldn't wrinkle when she sat down and felt the chair being pushed gently against the back of her knees. Once she was seated, the men took their seats at the table, and food appeared down the center of the table much as it did in Hogwarts.

Hermione knew for a fact her mother had not made all this food. _House elves, _she thought_, well, maybe they're not oppressed. _Hermione made a mental note to ask her mother about that later.

She watched her wine glass fill half way with red wine by itself. After everyone had served themselves and the parents, plus Uncle Severus, were in happy conversation, Hermione caught herself watching how tapered and graceful Draco's hands were when he ate and especially when he picked up his wine glass.

Suddenly, Hermione felt a sharp pain in her right leg. She swiveled her head around to glare at her brother. "What?" she whispered.

"Do try not to stare, please. Especially in front of me," Blaise replied even quieter than she.

"I was n—," she began but was cut off by her brother's fork jabbing her leg again. "Fine. So I was," she said with a roll of her eyes. This twin thing really had drawbacks.

Throughout the course of the dinner, Hermione was bombarded with stories of her childhood self. She learned that she had been given up for adoption on her third and a half birthday, and that apparently she, Blaise, and Draco had been best friends.

After the majority of the stories were over, Blaise asked for the three of them to be excused. "Yes, yes darling. You three run along," Madison said before returning to some story about Hermione running around in only pink ruffled underwear at her second birthday.

"Thank you," Hermione said to Blaise when they left the room. "I don't even remember that and I've never been more embarrassed in my life."

"I beg to differ," Malfoy said with a smirk on his face as the trio ascended the stairs.

"Shut up, ferret," she retorted.

"Hermione," Blaise said sharply with a glance in her direction.

At the top of the stairs, Hermione entered her bedroom while Blaise and Draco went into her brother's room. Once inside she locked the door and kicked off her shoes. She walked a few circles around her room getting used to walking on flat ground again. Carefully, she peeled off her dress and slipped some jeans on followed by small blue t-shirt. She made her way to the bathroom and opened the door.

The sight that greeted her was Draco clad only in jeans with his hair mussed from the dress shirt he had just taken off. A toned stomach and biceps were what Hermione found herself staring at. "Oh my god," she said, realizing what she was seeing, and slammed the door running back to her bed. "That did not just happen. I'm never leaving this room ever again."

A light knock came on her bathroom door before Draco strolled in, this time covered by a black collared shirt.

"I'm so sor—," she started, but was cut off my Draco.

"No, it's my fault. I've just been so used to not needing to lock that door that I forgot," he said.

His hair was still sticking up in places, and the black shirt made his skin seem tanner and his eyes brighter. Hermione thought he looked adorable.

"Look," he continued, "I wanted to talk to you about some things."

"Um…okay," Hermione replied. This was crazy. Malfoy was in her room talking to her civilly. To be honest, it was the Malfoy in her room part of that equation that was scaring her the most.

"I figured we could call a truce."

Hermione was slightly taken aback. "Oh, so you're just expecting me to forget everything that you've put me, Harry, and Ron through these past six years?"

Malfoy grimaced at the mention of Harry and Ron but continued. "No, well I mean yes, but…" he sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair agitatedly. "You're making this difficult."

"I have a right to make it difficult _Malfoy_," she said putting a harsh emphasis on his surname. "After all, it was you who called me Mudblood and tortured me more than anyone in my life almost on a daily basis."

"And I'm SORRY," he said loudly, interrupting her. Hermione was silent. "Okay? I'm sorry. If I had known you were…who you are I wouldn't have done that at all."

"It doesn't matter! It's not right to treat ANYONE like that. You made me cry so many times you can't possibly know, and now you're just expecting me to forget it all?" Hermione realized what she had said and cursed under her breath. She had not just told her mortal enemy that he had actually hurt her.

Draco's face was sad. "No, but I want you to try and learn to forgive me." At her disbelieving look, he continued, "We're going to be around each other so unbelievably often, Hermione, you know that. I'm sorry that I treated you like I did, but fighting with each other now isn't going to make anything easier on us or our families. Especially Blaise."

Hermione looked down at the mention of her brother. He had been on edge all night because of them already. How would it be every day for the rest of the summer? It didn't take her nearly as long as she would have liked to think it over. She didn't have the strength to make him wait and sweat it out. "Fine," she said with a sigh. Suddenly a cool hand was lifting her chin up. She looked into Draco's blue eyes and found them slightly warmer than before.

"I really am sorry. I missed you so much when you went away," he said and Hermione thought she saw his eyes get a little glassier. Suddenly she was wrapped in a warm hug by her ex-worst enemy. She flung her arms around his toned waist and breathed in his scent. His musky smell mixed with cologne reminded her of something she couldn't grasp. He smelled somewhat woodsy and Hermione abruptly remembered a blonde boy with bright blue eyes running ahead of her and laughing. They were racing through some overgrown trees in his backyard, but it was more of a forest to their small bodies. The boy's smile was bright and wide, and it occurred to Hermione that she had never seen Draco smile at Hogwarts.

_When did he stop?_ She thought. Pulling back from the now familiar scent, Hermione felt wetness on her cheeks.

"It will be different now," he said, echoing their Uncle Severus' words, "I promise."

That's it for this chapter. I could make it longer but this is seventeen full pages on Microsoft Word, so I figured it was long enough and this seemed like a good place to stop. Thank you everyone who sent me comments, again, they make me so happy and they make me want to write even more. I'll try to update as soon as possible. Now that the hard part of getting Malfoy and Hermione to be civil is over, it should go smoother from now on. If anyone thought that them being all friendly again was too abrupt, I'm sorry, but they were like childhood best friends you know? I dunno, I wasn't planning on it being that fast, but it just kind of happened like that.

Also, raise your hand if you noticed a little foreshadowing in here. I should bring that in next chapter. If you didn't notice what I'm talking about, then you'll just be surprised.


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